Just needed a hurricane to wash out the scorching heat

 

A lot sure can happen in a week. The neighborhood around our property took it on the chin the past 10 days thanks to the armyworm. Hopefully by now everyone has handed over their credit card to the local landscaping company so that they can get the worms under control. They really should be close to finished chewing on your lawn by now. There may or may not be a second wave to come through this fall, so keep watching. 

Everyday we are out watching, scouting and employing different management techniques to keep our turf in top shape. The past two weeks have been very challenging with excessive moisture and excessive heat. While the bermuda loves this type of weather, the cool season bentgrass hates it. Even with multiple fungicide applications out and a variety of different fertilizers down to help trick the bentgrass in to thinking its not 105 degrees on the surface, the bent will still struggle without air moving above and below the profile. Over the weekend we went as far as to put some of our blowers out to help move air across the hand full of greens that we not not handling the heat well.

It is difficult to make up for missed aerations in the past and over the past 3 seasons we have been committed to a strong aeration program. Aeration lets air and water move through the profile better instead of having water saturate the profile, leading to increased soil temperatures and the melting of bentgrass in the summer. One major solution is the use of our fans. 10 new fans have been mounted over the past 2 years and we have more budgeted for next year. The fans are dropping air temperatures by over 10 degrees and the bentgrass could not be happier.

The Sabot greens have remained in great shape this year. 9 fans on the Sabot keep every wind sheltered green cool and healthy. The other nine greens, save for 13, have a lake view and plenty of air movement. Solving these agronomic site problems, combined with the fact that the Sabot gets 30% less golf play, equals consistent putting surfaces. With a few more fans on the docket for Manakin next year, and a few more aerations, we should be marching through the summer with flying colors.

As the night time temperatures start to cool down, we were able to get one last topdressing on the Manakin fairways. A dry September is on tap it looks like, and some great fall golf awaits.

The sand brushed in nicely on Monday. We were lucky to only receive around a quarter inch of rain from Hurricane Ida. Many other golf courses are picking up the pieces today and worrying about flooded surfaces. The break in the temperatures will be good for all our turf!